This offers the opportunity to an Annex 1 party, which is generally an industrialised country see Appendix A , to achieve their Kyoto commitment through investments in other Annex 1 countries. Thereby this investor can receive emissions reduction credits when it helps to finance projects that reduce emissions in the other country. Some aspects of this approach are being tested as activities implemented jointly.

The goal of CDM is to assist non-Annex 1 parties in achieving sustainable development by means of capacity building and technology transfer. This mechanism can also help to receive emissions reduction units. However the run-up of the Kyoto protocol in the year seemed a little while sceptic for the European Union.

Therefore the EU has also taking serious steps to address its own greenhouse gas emissions Christiansen, The European Union has committed itself to cut the emissions even by 8 percent up to Another new measure, in comparing to the Kyoto protocol, is a more exactly directive in terms of a mandatory scheme for greenhouse gas trading especially at company level within the European Community European Union, The directive proposal involves two phases.

Firstly, a preliminary phase from before the first Kyoto compliance period - and secondly, the phase onwards. It shall be traded with carbon dioxide CO2 , because it is the easily and accurately monitored of the greenhouse gases Germanwatch, Therefore as a first step, around Among other things, these are some large-scale industries and the energy sector Mahle, The supervision of the effectiveness of the Internal Control System according to the 8th Directive of the EU, however, is directed at all corporate divisions. This includes accounting and financial reporting, essential operative processes, as well as procedures in the area of compliance management.

But there is no commitment to disclose the assessment results of the Internal Control System and the consequential failure these may entail. Article 41 of the 8th EU Direc- tive also does not require additional verification of the effectiveness of the ICS to be submitted by an auditor European Union, , Article 41, p. Leitch , p. Now, not only is the effectiveness of internal processes supervised but the requirements for the annual audits in terms of compliance and governance issues as well. Menzies , p. Taking this into account, the basic idea behind an Internal Control System is the reduction of potential disruptions in all business-related matters, as well as the underlying negative effects they have on companies Helbeck, , p.

Thus, the principles, procedures, and structures introduced do not only have to meet the regulatory require- ments, but also the organisational practicability within a company. Finally, the definition of an Internal Control System reflects the development of the concept of internal control and the influence of different lobbies on it 2.

This idea is supported by Leitch , p. As an Internal Control System involves dif- ferent processes within an organisation, it has to be transparent.

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Helbeck , p. On the other hand, the Institute for Administra- tive Audit Austria , p. In their view, the transparency principle has to be supported by some organisational structure, like a four-eye-principle, which implies that no essential process is carried out without a counter-check, e. Furthermore, the principle of functional separation is one of the key principles of an Internal Control System. Another principle that must be mentioned is the principle of information or the principle of minimum information. This principle can be realised with the support of the four-eye-principle and the principle of functional separation Institute for Ad- ministrative Audit Austria, , p.

Unfortunately, the implementation of these principles often ends with the organizational implementation in the literature. But it is essential for all these principles to be supported by IT. This, for example, includes controls within computerised processes such as:. The objectives of an Internal Control System vary from company to company. Due to the fact that organisations use different frameworks for Internal Con- trol Systems, the processes and objectives linked to them differ as well.

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Schneider, U. On the other hand, because having an adequate level of internal organization and establishing quality control procedures, it is guaranteed that the operator is able to explain the system in a more understandable and reasonable manner to verifier and competent authority. And question 5. Subject: Emissions trading in crisis — impact on finances and the environment? Elsland, R. Modeling the ability of thermal units to perform load changes in energy systems.

The following goals are included in the area of operations:. The last category, compliance, comprises the observance of laws and regulations. As different regulations apply to different sectors, compliance requirements also differ from company to company Menzies, , p. The two approaches agree that an Internal Control System is to affirm the safety, accuracy, and profitability of all processes. Accuracy is achieved when objective and formal accuracy, completeness, implementation in due time, documentation, auditability, and the observance of legal regulations is guaranteed.

Finally, the profitability of all business processes must be monitored regularly. The literature review of the fundamental elements of the ICS has revealed that companies face a number of difficulties and challenges, and that different un- derstandings of an ICS exist.

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One major disadvantage with regard to the cur- rent literature is that an ICS means different things to different people in terms of understanding and interpretation. On the one hand, the focus is on financial reporting only; on the other hand, the focus lies on the entire enter- prise including all processes. Likewise, one enterprise may focus exclusively on the security approach of an ICS, while another enterprise applies the ICS as an overall concept to include security, process alignment, as well as an early warning system and use the ICS as a strategic tool to generate a competitive advantage.

These different understandings may be attributable to the influ- ences various lobbies have on the management board and the ICS. Furthermore, the literature addresses the complexity and differing ICS imple- mentation approaches. No standardisation exists as of yet. This results in dif- ferent implementation strategies, which can be quite costly and may not suc- ceed due to organisational failures or due to an ICS that is not aligned to the business processes.

On the other hand, as mentioned in the literature, an ICS offers the possibility to integrate all processes into a single system; it may reduce potential disrup- tions and provides transparency. This transparency allows companies to trans- pose future legal regulations quickly.

Cost efficiency and quality can be en- hanced, if companies recognise changes in the processes and risks at an early stage. One key issue that was debated in the literature was the need for an ICS on account of legal requirements. Many companies have no choice but to imple- ment an ICS. The following chapters examine which opportunities exist in practice to implement an effective but quite standardised ICS and what has to be taken into consideration when adopting and implementing an ICS.

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The primary function of this control model involves the documentation, analy- sis, and design of Internal Control Systems, albeit focussing primarily on fi- nancial reporting COSO, , p. Furthermore, COSO describes internal control as a model consisting of five interrelated components:. These five components provide for a synergy which ensures that an Internal Control System can react dynamically to changing conditions COSO, , p.

These objectives apply to all entities and processes of a company Menzies, , p. Based on these objectives, a relationship between the objectives and compo- nents of an ICS can be developed. The relationship can be depicted by a three-dimensional matrix COSO, , p. Accordingly, the matrix con- sists of the three objectives operations, financial reporting, and compliance , the five interrelated components mentioned above, as well as the units or ac- tivities of an entity COSO, , p.

Figure 4 illustrates the relationship between the objectives and components of an Internal Control System. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the individual components of an Internal Control System, they will be explained in more detail. The control environment represents the foundation of an effective Internal Control System and for the other components of internal control COSO, , p.

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COSO , p. In order to determine the risks and critical success factors, management has to first set the objectives opera- tions, financial reporting, and compliance at the entity and activity level COSO, , p. Prin- cipally, two factors are important for risk identification: Internal and external factors Menzies, , p. Internal factors which represent a potential threat to an enterprise include, e. COSO, , p. External factors may, e. Hence, the identified risks have to be weighted with the probability of occurrence and the effects assessed.

The control activities consist of policies and procedures for the observance of management decisions Menzies, , p. Furthermore, COSO separates the control activities into different types. Within the scope of an ICS, indispensable information is gener- ated which influences the decision-making procedure and allows for the as- sessment of business activities.

This is supported by Helbeck , p. Due to changing or irrelevant processes within an ICS, internal controls may be- come ineffective Harrer, , p.

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Ongoing activities in- clude regular management and supervisory activities, comparisons, reconcilia- tions, and other routine actions that provide continual feedback on the effec- tiveness of controls COSO, , p. IT and information are catchwords that play an important role in companies. IT has to be used if accurate and complete information is to be provided within the time stated.

Thus, information and technology may exemplify the most valuable, but least understood asset of an enterprise ITGI, , p. Furthermore, business processes are related to IT resources. This implies that the enterprise has to invest appropriate resources for the deployment of tech- nical possibilities e. This may indicate that the quality of busi- ness processes depends on the quality of IT resources.

The ITGI , p. The authors combine their perspectives from energy engineering, technology assessment, political science, economical science and jurisprudence and address science, politics, actors in the energy sector and the interested public. Respectively, requirements for the balancing systems are analysed, considering the case of Germany as a large country with high ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, an approach to investigate the optimal design of the technical system for balancing electricity over Europe is sketched.

Looking at the challenges of a future energy system a mix of complementary technologies will prospectively become prevalent. In order to foster the needed innovation processes adequately, several funding mechanisms and legal regulations should be adapted. The authors give recommendations to handle major challenges in the development of the technical infrastructure, for the design of market conditions and for specific support of the application of balancing technologies. Skip to main content Skip to table of contents. Advertisement Hide.